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Thursday, September 02, 2010

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- Still Waiting for an Official Announcement re Hulse and Smith (even as the club slightly "modifies" the wording its original announcement. (Switching from: "The deal is subject to clearance and approval from the Football League. The Club will provide an update on this deal tomorrow (Wednesday)." to "...The deal is subject to clearance and approval from the Football League. The Club will provide an update on this deal in due course."

Paul Warburton/Fulham Chronicle - QPR wait on deadline day duo - QPR are still waiting for the FA to rubber-stamp the deadline-day signings of Rob Hulse and Tommy Smith. - Manager Neil Warnock worked flat out to try and bring the pair to Loftus Road on an exhausting Tuesday that saw him start out chasing four.- Rangers are understood to have got striker Hulse from Derby County at a knockdown £500,000 and winger Smith from Portsmouth for £1.1m, but lost out on Jason Roberts from Blackburn and another unnamed player when wages and transfer fees proved beyond Warnock’s means.- But the deals for the duo didn't go through until the final minutes of Tuesday's transfer window, along with a whole pile of faxes arriving at FA headquarters just before the 6pm deadline.- However, the loan switch of youngster Lee Brown to Hayes & Yeading has already fallen through because the paperwork wasn't completed in time.- Warnock said: "I’ve never had a transfer deadline day like it in 30 years of management. I was on my knees by the end." Fulham Chronicle

Evening Telegraph - Glicks defends club's decision to accept deadline day Hulse offer- CHIEF executive Tom Glick has defended the sale of Derby County striker Rob Hulse.Hulse's move to Queen's Park Rangers, where he will sign a three-year deal, was still to be ratified by the Football League late last night.The fee for the 30-year-old is undisclosed.

Derby have dismissed reports coming out of London that the fee is £400,000 rising to £800,000 and I understand they will receive around £750,000 rising to well over £1m depending on how the player and Rangers fare this season.

Hulse and Luke Varney, who has joined Blackpool on a season-long loan, have left Pride Park in the past week and Glick has confirmed that the Rams' wage bill is about where they want it to be at just below £10m.

But he says it remains one of the highest in the Championship.

The decision to sell Hulse, who has been the club's leading scorer in the past two seasons, has not gone down well with some fans who believe the club's owners should loosen the purse strings and show more ambition when it comes to signing players.

On Hulse, Glick said: "We had an offer for Rob that came in late."We presented it to the manager (Nigel Clough) and coaching staff and they made the judgement from a football stand-point that this was an offer that was right to accept.

"We are conscious he has been our leading scorer in the past two seasons but the things Nigel and his team would be thinking about is that Rob will be 31 in a few weeks and has got nine months to go on his contract."All this would have been taken into account in terms of whether Rob would be a player for the future of the club or whether it was right to make a change.

"The decision has been made that somebody else is going to be the target man to take us to that next step and this is the right time to part ways."Of course, we expected a backlash to the sale but, ultimately, we have the same objectives as the supporters – to compete for the play-offs, for promotion, to win promotion and to stay up in the Premier League.

"We owe it to them to have the discipline and strength of our convictions, and the manager, the coaching staff and the scouting team are more than capable of making the right recruiting decisions."We have the same objectives as the supporters and all the decisions we are making are being based on those objectives."But we have to have some budget discipline and that is where you get the separation, because some supporters would rather you spare no expense, gamble and go for it."I think there are too many examples showing that strategy doesn't work."Glick said Derby will do business when the window for emergency loans opens on Tuesday."There are going to be more and better players available, because of the Premier League's 25-man squad rule," added Glick."We are after a couple of specific targets."I think if we had a fit squad, questions about loosening the purse strings would not be coming up."The question is more apt when we have a number of guys carrying injuries but they are not serious injuries, apart from Steven Davies."We have a temporary injury problem but the squad is not as lean as it seems at the moment."Nigel wants to run a tight squad. He wants to have all the players engaged and with a chance of getting in the side."I think we have shown a willingness to invest in the squad."We continue to run one of the highest wage bills in the League. We have brought in eight players this summer, investment has been made in this window and we have spent quite a bit of money on Alberto Bueno. He is not an inexpensive player."Glick said Derby had made offers for other players during the transfer window, including Scunthorpe United striker Gary Hooper, who signed for Celtic."If Hooper had come for what we bid for him, it would have been a big fee but he chose to go somewhere else and part of that was to do with wages," said Glick."And you have to, as you would in any deal, walk away from the table when you feel it has gone past what good value would be."Derby bid "well over" £1m for Hooper but Celtic got their man by splashing out £2.5m.Glick dismissed reports that the Rams had bid for Notts County's attacking midfielder Ben Davies but confirmed that the player is one the manager is keen on." The Rams

And the Derby Fans' View - Evening Telegraph Opinion is split over big Rob's departure but time will tell if it is right move

The sale of Rob Hulse was always going to split opinion.

That is not surprising, because there are two very different trains of thought as the Rams' leading scorer in the past two seasons heads for Queens Park Rangers.

Thirty one goals in 96 appearances for Derby, a strike ratio of one in three, is proof that a fit Hulse is a formidable centre forward at Championship level.He has been Derby's arch goal threat by some distance since he signed from Sheffield United for £1.75m two years ago and his goals played a significant part in steering the Rams clear of deep trouble in the Championship.

His winning goals brought crucial points and he certainly enjoyed playing against Nottingham Forest.Forest found it difficult to handle Hulse, who scored four goals in six appearances against the Reds.He found the net in both wins at the City Ground in 2009 and his winning header at Pride Park in January put the skids under Forest's promotion push.He showed his value in the game against Leeds United at Elland Road on the opening day of this season when his fine finish set up a 2-1 victory.

There is bound to be disappointment when a recognised player departs and Hulse's exit leaves the squad short of attacking options but there are other considerations in this case.Hulse turns 31 next month and, of greater significance, he had entered the final 12 months of his contract.Like it or not, Derby have been trimming their wage bill and many clubs are doing the same in the current tough economic climate.Wage bills, not just at Derby but at clubs generally, have been far too high, just like ticket prices (but that is an argument for another day).Football needs to return to the real world when it comes to finances and so greater prudence should be applauded.Derby had said for some time they were not in a position to offer Hulse a new deal to match the one he was on, believed to be in excess of £15,000 per week.His contract situation meant that, by December, he could start talking to possible new suitors and walk away on a free transfer at the end of the season.Whatever you might think about the deal that has taken Hulse to QPR, being left without a bean for the striker in nine months' time would have been very poor business.In the past, clubs had too much of a hold over players. Now, due to the Bosman ruling, players tend to hold all the cards.How nice it would be to find a happy medium.QPR have handed Hulse a three-year deal, which will take him close to the end of his career.I might be proved wrong but I feel Derby fans saw the best of Hulse in 2008-9.In the February of that season, he was the top striker in the Championship.Niggling injuries and loss of form restricted his impact last season but, to his credit, he still scored a dozen goals.As I said, there are two sides to this case.In football, it is very often about what happens next – the next match, the next result and, in this case, the next arrival(s) through the door at Pride Park.Young Spanish forward Alberto Bueno has come in on a season-long loan from Real Valladoild and looks an exciting addition but a the squad still needs bolstering with at least two more new faces to give manager Nigel Clough more options than he currently has at his disposal. The Rams

QPR Official Site - EXCLUSIVE: EPHRAIM PENS EXTENSIONIn-form R's midfielder Hogan Ephraim has penned a one year contract extension, tying him to the Club until the summer of 2012.The 22 year-old, who has enjoyed a fine start to the 2010/11 npower Championship campaign, initially joined QPR on loan from West Ham United in August 2007.That move was made permanent in January 2008 and the wide-man has since gone on to flourish in the Blue and White Hoops, making 90 appearances in all competitions and scoring six goals. QPR